The Untouchables

Director Brian De Palma had one of the biggest critical and commercial hits of his career with this violent gangster thriller, a beautifully crafted big- screen version of the 1950s TV series. In 1930s Chicago, straight-arrow federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is assigned to take down all-powerful mob boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro), who seemingly has the city’s entire police force and political apparatus on his payroll. Quickly realizing that he is out of his element, Ness recruits an unorthodox team — including a veteran Irish beat cop (Sean Connery, who won an Oscar for his salty performance), a brilliant, bespectacled accountant (Charles Martin Smith), and a sharp-shooting rookie (Andy Garcia) — and adopts guerrilla-warfare tactics to beat the gangsters at their own vicious game. Scripted to tough guy perfection by David Mamet, propelled by a rousing score from the great Ennio Morricone, and featuring one of De Palma’s greatest set pieces in the Potemkin-quoting Union Station shootout, The Untouchables is pure, unbridled, escapist cinema at its finest. (Dir. by Brian DePalma, 1987, USA, 119 mins., Rated R)